This would be the first of James Borg’s works to feature in my reading list. And I had no expectations about it. Just a blank expression on my mind as I began to leaf through the red – covered volume. Time and again, British authors reiterate my conviction of my preference for their writing technique (and choice of words) over any of their other counterparts. Reading content created by a Briton elevates and educates me. I’m also left with a feeling of my time well – spent, my mind more exposed, my diction improved and increased, and my writing duly challenged. Strange though. Like most people around the world, I grew up under the weighted influence of American entertainment – cartoons, books, films, speech. And after almost four decades of conscious (and sometimes, unconscious) orientation, the British writers still hold taut my heartstrings to their style of penmanship. James Borg’s Persuasion is, like its title signals, all about the art of influencing people over to your point of view. Divided into 10 chapters, it delves into such topics geared towards making an influence of the reader – being a good listener, keeping attention, body language, good recall, telephone telepathy, negotiating[…]

The title of this post flashed, as though impatient to join the blog, while I read my first book of the year. Nora Robert’s Whiskey Beach, kicked off my reading this month. It has been a loooooooong while since I held a book authored by her. As I turned the pages of perhaps my first novel in six months, I realized I wanted to talk (or rather, write) about the books I’d be reading in 2017 as I did, and not just list all of them in one post at the end of the year like I’ve done in the past two years. To do that, I needed a title for the book category I’d be introducing on the blog; it was going to be a constant like the others before it – the institution, just the two of them, etc. Books I’m currently reading and my reading list were two possible headings that didn’t quite fit. Too pedestrian, I thought. Bookshelf also made a feeble appearance; it was the name of an online book reading club I belonged to. Nah, wasn’t that pilfering? Half – way through Whiskey Beach and pondering on the culprit of the main unsolved crime,[…]

When I did this last year – write about the books I read – I was quite disappointed, appalled even, to discover my magic number was 16. Just 16! In a full year of 12 months, I could boast of only 16 books; one per month, and I just managed to squeeze in four more for good measure. It didn’t help that my goal was a book every fortnight. My count ought to have been 24 if I had followed that rule rigidly. But here I was thinking in terms of 36 books since I would have surpassed my target. Obviously, right? The reality was rudely shocking. The same rule applied this year; and while 24 books was the target, I had to remind myself that the number wasn’t quite as important as the amount of knowledge and understand garnered from each; the continuous improvement of my writing and speaking skills, the honing of my reading habit; the inspiration it sparked towards my creative writings; the constant mental trips I embarked upon or the other benefits that came with engaging the mind in a packed volume of well structured, interesting words. Truth be told though, it would have still been[…]

Two weeks ago, I joined an online book club. I’m hoping this move would help me read more books this year and improve on that achievement as I go on. We are a 21-member, all – female group called the bookshelf and I feel really good about it. A few days ago, I posted the article below on the group’s page: What is your reading target? 10 minutes a day? 30 minutes? An hour? A book a week? A month? Quarterly? Annually? One of my 2014 resolutions was to read two (or more) books a month. For someone who claimed to be a voracious reader, this , I admit, was way below my reading standards. But while I played with the idea of increasing my monthly book count, I also considered other areas of my life. I had to be realistic; that’s what the R in the popular S.M.A.R.T goals setting acronym stands for. Because setting the goals are easy. Achieving them…not so much. 2014 started off brilliantly. By the end of February, I had six books under my belt – Mastery, The Art of Speaking Well, Life’s a Pitch, Dreams from[…]

‘The world is a book and those who do not travel read only a page.’ – St. Augustine I didn’t introduce T to the world of books early but when I did, we more than made up for whatever lost time. I added her brother into that world last year. Fortunately both children love books, reading, writing and all that jazz. Every opportunity to indulge in these activities means quiet and peace in my world, and I’m their biggest cheerleader. ‘No entertainment is so cheap as reading nor any pleasure so lasting.’ – Lady M.W. Montagu I must mention here that T loves, loves books ( a tad more than her brother) and takes every chance she gets to attempt to read and sound out familiar and new words, and sentences. It is only natural that one of her favourite moments is bedtime reading. She chooses the book, the story and reads what she can, displaying her reading prowess, learning new words and testing her memory. She also points out corresponding photos and asks questions when something is unclear. Before now, I’d read the story for her brother and her while they both listened attentively. Not anymore. In the last[…]